


hard to draw, easy to love

by agentmmayy



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Aos Rare Pair Exchange 2018, Art, F/M, Fluff, lots of pointless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 22:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16900977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentmmayy/pseuds/agentmmayy
Summary: Since briefly retiring from Shield after the rise and fall of the LMD's, Mack and Elena have been relaxing in Colombia, allowing Elena to once again pursue her passion: art. But one morning when drawing a portrait of Mack when he's not at home, Elena grows frustrated. Luckily, Mack comes back just in time and live models for her. Complete with pointless fluff, art, and food.





	hard to draw, easy to love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [152glasslippers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/152glasslippers/gifts).



> for the AoS Rare Pair Fic Exchange 2018 and my exchange partner 152glasslippers. I combined your prompt "Close the door." and 'face touching' (which admittedly, I ran a little wild with) hope you like it! :) and a big thank you to Janelle who translated the Spanish for me! <3

Gentle tapping of socked toes against the hardwood floor echoed around the room, but it was almost drowned out by a steadily growing cacophony of frustrated sighs and muttered curses. 

At an easel situated before one window in the studio sat Elena, the source of the noises. She heaved a groan of frustration, aggressively pushing back hair from falling against her face as she erased for what felt like the hundredth time. Drawing was usually an outlet for stress, but instead, Elena was irritated and quickly becoming more annoyed than pleased with the piece she was working on.  

Barely forgoing the urge to throw her pencil down, Elena instead placed it next to the easel and scooted back to study her drawing. 

So far, every detail about the piece was coming together nicely except for the nose. Noses were difficult, Elena understood, but this one shouldn’t be. She saw this nose every day, even kissed it many times but for some reason no matter what she did, Elena could not get it to form right. She was too stubborn to quit, though, so Elena picked the pencil back up and returned the graphite to the paper. 

Time became irrelevant as Elena worked. She was so caught up in her drawing that she didn’t hear the front door to the apartment open or a familiar voice rise up the stairs until the door to the studio suddenly opened. 

Elena glanced behind her for a split second before turning back to the easel, muttering, “Close the door.”

The soft  _ snick  _ of the door closing resounded in the suddenly quiet room. It was the break in atmosphere that Elena needed. She found her shoulders relaxing, and her grip on the pencil loosening as footsteps neared behind her. A heavy hand came to rest on the small of her back. Elena leaned into it, feeling the heat seep through the fabric of her thin shirt. 

“It’s me.” Mack sounded astounded. 

“Yeah,” Elena agreed sourly, glaring at the familiar eyes on the paper. “You and your stupid perfect face that I can’t get right.”

“What do you mean? It’s great.”

“ _ This- _ ” Elena gestured to the nose portion of the portrait. It looked ridiculous with the blank space, grainy with obvious markings of repeated erasings. “Is what is giving me problems.” She glared at the drawing for a second longer before glancing up at Mack. 

He had just gotten back from the market and in from the heat, so there was a thin sheet of perspiration glistening on his temples. There was a certain sense of admiration in his eyes as he continued to gaze at the drawing and the beginnings of scruff on his cheeks from not shaving that morning. Studying him, Elena could instantly see little details that she hadn’t yet captured in her drawing and areas she could improve on.

“You can help me,” she said, feeling her motivation for the portrait rush back. “Go sit.”

“But I got-”

“They can wait.” Elena could smell the contents of the bag gripped in Mack’s hand, and her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it in favor of gathering her pencils up. “I’ve always worked better with live models,” Elena explained before adding, “Especially nude ones.”

Mack laughed as he set the bag down and stepped away from the easel as Elena began to move around. “Nude, huh? I thought we were doing a portrait.”

“Who says you can’t be naked for it?”

He raised his eyebrows but stripped his shirt off. “Pants too, I’m guessing?”

“Tienes razón.”  _ You are correct. _

With a shake of his head, Mack unbuttoned his pants, dropping them down with his underwear. He folded his clothes while Elena dragged her easel around to place before Mack as he sat on the stool. Adjusting so she could see his face when she sat, Elena moved the easel to the side before reaching for her own chair. 

When she sat down, Elena looked over Mack in all his naked glory, sitting only a few inches before her. Elena still couldn’t quite believe that he was hers to touch and to love. Her hands were tempted to stray to Mack’s shoulders or even lower, but instead, she focused on his face. That's what she was attempting to draw after all; the other parts could wait.

Elena playfully tapped his nose with the tip of a finger. “This is what I can’t get right.”

Before he could answer, she was touching his face, fingertips prodding and pushing at any skin she could reach. Elena over exaggerated her motions, comically waggling Mack’s eyebrows with her fingers and poking at his nose. 

Mack’s words were slightly muffled as Elena pulled the skin between his nose and mouth down. “What are you doing?”

“I’m studying your face,” she answered. “Hands on is always the best approach.”

Elena watched as Mack laughed, his mouth pulling up into a wide smile that sent her stomach flipping. She glanced at her drawing before back to him, noting the similarities in the two mouths. “I got your lips right, though.”

Mack stopped laughing, but an amused twinkle was still present in his eyes. “I wonder why that is.”

“Tal vez porque los beso tanto, no?” Elena asked.  _ Maybe because I kiss them so much, no? _

“Well as of now they’re feeling thoroughly un-kissed.”

“I can fix that.”

Kissing Mack was familiar, a constant that Elena sank into. She startled when she was suddenly pulled closer to him, her stomach giving a frightened lurch as her stool tipped forward. Mack steadied Elena with his hands on her waist which she took as an invitation to cup his face, mindful of the graphite still on her fingertips.

Pressing one last kiss to his lips, Elena pulled back. Keeping her hands on his chin, Elena began to move Mack’s head, trying to situate it to reflect the drawing. Only, Mack kept trying to kiss her instead.

“Mack!” Elena wanted to scold him but instead found a smile starting at the corner of her mouth at his laughter. “Come on. I need to finish this.”

With a sigh, Mack released her. “Fine.”

His cooperation allowed Elena to adjust his head position perfectly. Before she leaned back to resume drawing, though, she darted forward to quickly kiss him. 

Returning to the easel. Elena soon found herself being swept into the repetitive motion of the tip of her pencil against the paper. 

Being in Colombia away from the busy life they had at Shield allowed Elena to fall back into her first love: art. After the whole ordeal with the LMD’s, Elena and Mack needed a break from Shield and in Elena’s opinion, Mack needed to see Colombia, so they went back to her hometown.

Arriving back in Colombia was amazing, but re-entering her studio after being apart from it for so long was indescribable. Elena hadn’t realized how much she missed having a paintbrush pressed against her palm instead of a gun or paint smeared on her instead of blood. Within the first week of their brief retirement, Elena filled up an entire sketchbook with various drawings and paintings of anything she could find.

The late morning sun streamed in through lines of light from the window blinds, casting bright shapes across the studio and a golden glow on Mack. He looked nearly ethereal with the sun shining on him, planes of muscles appearing as if they were carved by a skilled sculptor.

For the past few weeks, Mack had been Elena’s main subject in her artwork. She painted him sitting by the windows in the kitchen as he drank his morning coffee, sketched him as he slept beside her, and even convinced him to let her take his picture more than once. Combining her love for Mack and her love for art was one of the best ideas she had ever had, Elena thought.

As Elena focused on the shading and details of the nose, her mind became blank as she drew. But, soon Elena was setting her pencil down slowly, almost as if she couldn’t believe what was before her. The nose was finally done, now blending in with the rest of the shadows and shades as if it had always been there. 

Now ecstatic, Elena delivered a loud, exaggerated kiss to the tip of Mack’s nose, overjoyed that the one in her drawing now matched the nose before her. 

Mack laughed, watching Elena fondly as she stared at her drawing. Her obvious joy was contagious; he was growing excited as well or moreover impatient to see the final product. “Did you get it?”

“Yes,” Elena said. “It’s perfect.”

When Mack leaned forward to see the drawing, Elena quickly grabbed the easel closer, blocking the portrait from his view. “It’s not done yet!” 

“Alright.” He let up, raising his hands in surrender as he settled back onto the stool once more. 

There wasn’t much more left to do in the piece. It was nearly done with the completion of the nose, but there were a few technicalities Elena needed to fix and details to add. Her pencils glided over the paper, adding darker tones, lines of stubble, and pigment that Elena blended out with her fingers. Before she knew it, the portrait was done. 

Elena sat back as a sense of satisfaction that rushed through her veins only when she finished a piece of art filled her. 

“Is it done?”

Nodding, Elena turned her easel to face Mack, eagerly anticipating his reaction. He didn’t disappoint, of course. His eyes lit up as they laid on the portrait. 

“It’s amazing.” Mack sounded just as astounded as before, if not proud as well. “It looks exactly like me.”

“That was the point.”

“Yeah, but-” Elena prepared herself for criticism, but it never came. Mack’s eyes left the easel to land on Elena. “-I think it’s unfair that you’re still clothed.”

Elena cocked an eyebrow, momentarily thrown with the unexpectedness of his statement. “Oh?” 

“Yeah.”

“You’ll have to help me,” Elena said, standing from her chair. “I don’t want graphite on my clothes.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

Elena held back a shiver as Mack’s knuckles brushed against her bare abdomen when he lifted her shirt off. Her thumbs were clean, so Elena pulled down her shorts and underwear, lifting her arms as Mack unclasped her bra. Instead of folding her clothes, Elena took them from Mack and tossed them behind her onto a chair, laughing at the exasperated sigh he let out. 

Once she was fully naked before him, Mack leaned back onto the stool, his eyes on Elena. Instead of the usual predatory or lewd gaze Elena was used to receiving from men, Mack looked at her like she was a work of art.

“Mejor?” _ Is that better? _

Mack lifted the easel aside in one swoop as if it was weightless. Elena followed the movement of his arm, eyeing the flexing muscles before she was tugged onto his lap. “Mucho más mejor.”  _ Much better. _

“Mack,” she protested. Elena lifted her wrists from his shoulders, trying not to smear any gray pigment onto his skin. “My hands are dirty-”

“It’s just graphite.” Unlike oils or other mediums Elena liked to use, graphite was the easiest to clean off of one’s person and the least toxic. “I’ve had worse on me. Now, how about those palitos de queso?”

Elena grinned. His pronunciation was becoming better with each passing day. “Por favor. I’m starving.”

Without moving Elena from his lap, Mack leaned over to the bag he had set by the desk and lifted it. Elena’s stomach audibly growled when he removed the lid from the container of food. She would have snatched the container right from his hands if hers weren’t still covered in graphite. 

The realization had Elena frowning. She  _ could  _ get up and wash her hands in the bathroom down the hall, but quite frankly she didn’t want to move from Mack’s lap.

Of course, Mack noticed her abrupt dissatisfaction. “What? Aren’t these the ones you wanted? I-”

“No, they’re fine,” Elena assured him. “I just can’t eat them right now.”

“What do you mean?”

Elena lifted her nearly charcoal-colored fingertips up for emphasis.

“That’s not a problem,” Mack said. Elena only had eyes for the food as she watched Mack pick a cheese-filled breadstick up and dip it into a container of jam before holding it out to her. 

By now, the palitos de queso were cooled but delicious. For some reason, Elena thought they tasted better from Mack’s hand though nothing could compare to the mora jam that the bread was dipped in. The combination of bread, cheese, and sweet jam was divine and satiated the craving Elena had all morning. 

“Cómo fue el mercado?”  _ How was the market? _

“Loud and crowded as usual,” Mack replied. “I got a lot of questions asking where you were.”

Instead of responding, Elena went in for another bite but was interrupted by the palito de queso being directed to Mack’s mouth instead of hers. “Hey!”

“I’m not going to apologize.” Mack took another bite. “These are too good.”

Even though Elena was miffed about the food being stolen from her, she couldn’t bring herself to get mad. Mack teasing her was a rare occurrence. Elena adored the playful side of Mack that had been steadily revealing itself more and more with each day they spent in Colombia. But, on the next palito de queso that he took from the container, Elena made sure to grab a bite before he could.

“What made you decide to draw me?”

Elena used the back of her hand to wipe away some jam from her mouth before answering simply, “I missed you.” 

She  _ had  _ missed him. Since leaving Shield, they spent almost every waking moment with each other. Being apart for even an hour now felt too long. At her response, Mack pulled Elena closer, pressing sticky jam covered lips to her cheek. Elena scrunched her nose in mock disgust and in retaliation, took a bite so large from the palito de queso Mack was holding that her teeth touched his fingers. She tried not to laugh around the food in her mouth as Mack voiced his disgust. 

“Where are we going to put it?” Mack asked moments later. He nodded toward the portrait. “I’d say the fridge, but it’s too good. It belongs in a museum.”

A hot blush rose in Elena’s cheeks against her will at the praise. Any compliments on her art were nice, but when they came from family and moreover, Mack, Elena appreciated them even more. “Tomorrow when we go to the market we can find a frame.”

“The market again tomorrow?”

“Yes.” Elena insisted as she took another bite of a palito de queso. “For more of these.”

“I won’t protest to that.”

They finished the rest of the food sooner than Elena would have liked. She watched, forlorn, as Mack set the empty container aside but snuggled into his embrace as his arms returned to wrap around her. The absence of their clothes caused Elena to feel closer to Mack, not just on a physical level but on an intimate one too. It was a different intimacy than sex that Elena enjoyed equally. This intimacy was softer, bringing a certain vulnerability that Elena let her guards down to allow. She couldn’t get enough of it and relaxed further into Mack as they sat and watched the sun sink lower as the late afternoon began.

“What were you thinking about when you were drawing me?” Mack’s question pierced the silence of the room. 

Elena didn’t try to stray from the truth. “How great of a nude model you would be.” She smiled at Mack’s laughter and tilted her chin up to watch his eyes crinkle. “But I don’t want to share you.” 

Mack kissed her cheek. “The only person I would want to model for is you.”

“Maybe tomorrow I can draw other parts of you, then.”

“Yeah?” he asked. “Like what?”

“It’s been a while since I did a full figure nude,” Elena said. 

“I’d think you know my body from memory now.”

“Oh, I do.” Elena trailed her fingers suggestively down Mack’s chest and enjoyed how she left dark gray streaks in her wake.

Mack sighed, but underneath his front of annoyance laid amusement. “Thanks for that.” Turning, Mack reached for Elena’s desk that was only a few inches away and opening a drawer, brought out a pack of cleansing wipes. He opened the pack and took out a wipe before rubbing at his sticky with jam fingers.

“You knew where those were this whole time?” Elena asked incredulously. She pushed at his chest. “I could have cleaned my hands earlier!”

“Yeah,” Mack agreed. He took Elena’s hands between his own, cleaning her fingers with a gentleness that sent her heart racing. “But I wanted to feed you.”

She hid her smile against his neck. “Eres tan romántico.” _ You're such a romantic. _

“Solo para tú.”  _ Only around you. _

Elena moved so Mack’s lips could find hers in a kiss that sent her toes curling against the cool wood of the stool. With the kiss, the atmosphere of the room shifted from gentle intimacy into a more intense one that Elena’s stomach clenched in anticipation. 

“Now, about refreshing your memory,” Mack began as they parted, his tone lowering provocatively as well as his hands as they settled on Elena’s upper thighs.  

A pull of heat settled low in Elena’s, coming to rest between her legs as she shifted on Mack’s lap. “Yeah?”

“I think the bed would be the perfect place to do that,” he finished.  

The hidden promise behind Mack’s words and the desire in his eyes were all it took for Elena to swing her legs around to bracket Mack’s hips. She molded her body against his, arms winding around his neck. “Take me to bed then, Turtleman.”

Needing no further convincing, Mack stood with Elena in his arms and walked out of the studio into the bedroom they shared. The rest of the day was spent in bed, making love and napping mostly, but Elena couldn’t resist doing a quick sketch of Mack as he slept, or resist sending him out to the market once again to get more palitos de queso. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! :)


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